Repentance in the Bible

welcome back I'm Robert breaker and I've got a message prepared for you today that I hope will help you I preached on this subject several times before but the Lord laid on my heart again to preach on this subject I still get emails from people that are confused about this subject so I want to get rid of all confusion and man the Bible says that God is not the author of confusion so we're going to do today we're going to look at repentance in the Bible I thought about calling this rightly dividing repentance but I've already made a message called rightly dividing repentance so I said well what can I call this I guess we'll call it repentance in the Bible and I want to go to as many verses in the Bible that I can that talk about repentance and let's look at what repentance is there are many people confused about repentance they don't understand what it means there are a lot of people out there that think repentance means quit sinning and if that's the case they think that salvation is by works and so what they believe is they believe that if you quit sinning well then you can come to a state of salvation and sinless perfection because you quit sinning this of course would be a works gospel and this is not what the Bible teaches the Bible does not teach us that we are saved by our works rather the Bible says we're saved by grace in fact over it in the book of Romans I believe it says if it were by works then it even no more of grace grace and works are not the same thing we're either saved by grace through faith oh we're saved by works it's one or the other and it's not both you know we're not saved by grace through faith plus works we don't have a a faith plus works gospel we have a true gospel of salvation which is salvation by believing now what a lot of people do is they will come to the Bible and they will take the word repentance and they want to say that repent means that you quit sinning and so they tell people now the way you get saved and this is by the way called lordship salvation they say the way you get saved as well you come to a point where you just you hate sin so much you just don't sin anymore and then you believe and then you live a life of without and that proves that you were saved because you quit sinning notice how that puts all the emphasis on you and what you do and many people myself included for years I was deceived by this because someone told me that repentance meant quit sitting so my mentality my idea was well I got to stop sinning to be safe and so I was trusting in my work or works I was trusting and how good I was because I wasn't sinning as much and I was thinking I was saved because of me and what I did I was boasting in my repentance I was trusting and relying in my repentance rather than in Christ and what he did for me on the cross so that's a problem there's there's so many people out there I give emails all the time from people that say the same thing brother breaker I was one of those - that was deceived thinking that the repentance was what saved me I didn't realize that it's salvation by faith so there's a problem with that many people think that repentance means quit sinning what does repent mean well the first thing I want to say about repent is that the word repent the word repent has more than one meaning that's something that we have to understand you cannot say that repent only means one thing the word repent has more than one meaning there's a lot of words like that but one word can mean more than one thing so what does repent mean well I believe the word repent means change your mind change mind or we could say a change of direction it's a change or it's a turning from one thing to another but that's not all that repent means it also means feel sorry for something so what we have to do is we have to realize that the word repent has more than one definition and what we understand that then that helps to clear up all the confusion you see a lot of people want to say that repent means they say it means quit sinning alright if that's the case and we get saved by quit sinning then I guess no one ever in the history of the world ever got saved because no one ever achieved sinless perfection to where they arrived in their life to where they never sinned again so I guess everyone went to hell if that's what the word means now no repentance doesn't mean quit sinning it means change of a mind change of direction or to feel sorry for something and I'm going to show you some passages in the scriptures and show you how there's different places that it appears in which it means different things now before I go any farther whatsoever let me stop right here and say something I hate sin God hates sin I hope you hate sin but you know sin is horrible sin is wicked sin is filthy and horrible and it's because of sin that man is damned to hell so I hate sin I really do and I want people to turn from sin I want people to get away from sin I want people to live a holy life and not sin but just because I want that doesn't mean I'm going to preach that you're saved when you repent by your repentance I am NOT going to tell people that you're saved by quit sinning because that's not what the Bible teaches yet there are many out there today that preach that repentance means quit sinning so when you quit sitting you'll get to heaven that is a false message and that never gives anyone assurance of salvation because no one has ever quit sinning the only sinless person ever is Jesus Christ so when we get saved we get saved by faith we trust in the gospel we're safe now after we're saved we're supposed to live right we're supposed to do our best as the Bible says to depart from iniquity and get away from sin but you're not saved by your quit senac that's what I'm trying to get across today that's what I want you to understand and I preach the message like this because there's people out there that think that quit sinning is how you get to heaven they have a works gospel and if that's the truth and that's not much good news you see the gospel means good news alright so you go to person you say hey I got good news if you quit sin you go to heaven and a person lives their entire life trying to quit sinning and they come to one realization no matter how I try I'm still a sinner when you get saved guess what you're still a sinner there's only two types of sinners in the world save sinners and lost sinners but yes we should hate sin we should feel sorry for our sin we should change you have a change of mind toward sin and hate sin and we should want God and turn toward God but it's not the fact that we quit sinning that saves us it's whether or not we trust the gospel now we're gonna go today to the scriptures and I'm going to start with the Old Testament and then we're going to look in the New Testament at the word repentance or repent I'm going to show you what it means like I said a lot of people today think that the term repent or repentance means quit sinning and that's not what it means but I can understand why they think that because in many passages in the Bible it makes it sound like repent means quit sinning but we've got to watch out for that because the gospel today is not quit sinning to get saved the gospel today is the gospel of grace it's not of works so let me explain this to you and another thing I want to say in the Old Testament we see the word repent show up time and time again in reference to God God repenting if repentance means quit sinning and that's the only definition of the word then I guess the Lord was a sinner and he quit sinning that doesn't that doesn't even make sense so the very first time that the word repent shows up in the Bible is in Genesis chapter 6 so let's read Genesis chapter 6 and verse 6 and 7 and it's amazing how often the term is used for the Lord the Lord repented just chapter 6 verse 6 and it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him at his heart again in verse 7 the Lord said I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth both man and beast and the creeping thing in the fowls of the air for it repenteth me that I have made them God says I repent that I made man now does the Lord say I quit city that's not what he says the Lord says I changed my mind that I made man well no that doesn't make much sense in con how could he change his mind that he made man he already made them what do you think that that is saying there the Lord repented that he felt sorry you see the worst day or five says and God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of this of his heart was only evil continually so clearly it repented the Lord that he made man God felt sorry that he made man because man became so sorry and evil and wicked man became such sinners that God said man I just uh it grieved him to see how evil man had become so that's the first time we see the word repent in the Bible now let's look at the second time that it shows up let's go to Exodus chapter 13 now why are you preaching a message on this brother breaker well because there are people out there that don't understand and when you preach the right teaching and the right balance on this then people can get saved but quite often in the world of which we live people go to an extreme and they go to an extreme with repentance by saying it only means quit sitting and then that's a works gospel and then people think well I'm saved or I'm lost based upon what I do and I want you to make I want to make very sure of your salvation I want to know are you saved and I want to know for sure that you're trusting in what Jesus did not in what you do many people today are trusting in their repenting rather than trusting in Jesus Christ that's really sad an old preacher said one time he said my very repentance needs to be repented of they say it's not what we do that saves us even if we repent we're still sinners so it's not even good enough our repentance isn't even good enough it's whether or not we've trusted hey what Jesus did now Exodus 13:17 look what it says it came to pass when Pharaoh had let the people go that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines although that was near for God said less pre adventure the people repent when they see war and they return to Egypt so the people repent when they see war and they return what does that mean they they change their mind or change their direction they they see something they say oh well we don't want that let's go back over here so repent has several definitions and as you read the scriptures you see those definitions there okay so now let's go to Exodus 32 12 alright I'm showing you many Old Testament passages of what repent means in the context and as you read the context it's not hard to see which one of these definitions are talking about Exodus chapter 32 and verse 12 ludovic says where for should the Egyptians speak and save for mischief did he bring them out to slay them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth turn from my fierce wrath and repent of this evil against thy people this is Moses speaking to God and Moses says God repent of what you want to do to these people what is he saying he's saying change your mind don't destroy them for what they've done have some grace so here is change your mind now in verse 14 again and the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people he changed his mind of what he was gonna do and what was he gonna do he was going to judge them and discipline them for their sin but because of the prayer of Moses on their behalf why God said okay okay I won't judge them this time but as we go through the entire Old Testament we see men repenting and God repenting and man repenting and God repenting and men repenting and God repenting over and over and over numbers 23:19 is another one numbers 23:19 now here's something that people might say well this looks like this is a contradiction in the Bible now let me explain it to you show you why it's not numbers 23:19 says God is not a man that he should lie neither the son of man that he should repent hath he said and shall he not do it or have you spoken and shall he not make it good so the Bible says here that God cannot repent well obviously it doesn't mean feel sorry for something because in Genesis chapter 6 it said he repented that he made man so what does it mean I believe what it means in context the fact that he can't lie it means God does not repent or change from being a holy God to an unholy God God is not a sinful so that he must change to being sinless when God says something he does it and so I believe what he's saying here is that he can't change direction he's a holy God he can't change that he can't change being what he is no matter what God does he's right because he's God now even our man we'd be wrong all the time and when we do wrong what should we do we should repent we should feel sorry for what we do and we should say now I'm gonna do the right thing instead of the wrong thing and that's what we need to do well the Bible says God can't repent so what can't God do God can't change who he is because he is who he is so some people look at say well that's that's in the Bible a contradiction God repented it repented the Lord had repented and then it says then God can't repent remember the definitions God can't feel sorry for something but when God says I'm gonna do this because I am this he can't change unless he shows grace and that's what he did with Moses that's what he did was Moses Moses we just read the verse where he said up I'm going to discipline Israel and and he said Lord please don't and God said okay alright he changed his mind I won't do that but that doesn't make him a sinner you see God's not a sinner God can't lie so he can't change from being an on line to a liar alright that's the context so God can't tell a lie alright so dinner on me chapter 32 Deuteronomy 32 36 now isn't that strange doesn't that sound like a contradiction you know God repented and then it says but God can't repent well if repentance means quit sinning then God is a senator when he repented and he got right no it doesn't make sense it doesn't make sense so what does it mean God can't repent God can't change his nature who he is he is righteous he is holy he is just and he needs not repent of that or change from being that because that's who he is so you gotta understand that the context you've got to read the Bible you got to look at it look at Deuteronomy 32 36 dirt Deuteronomy 32 36 says for the Lord shall judge his people and repent himself for his service servants when he see it that their power is gone and there's none shut up or left all right so it's talking God here is talking about vengeance verse 35 and recompense and how he's going to judge people that are wrong verse 36 but he's going to repent himself for his servants what does that mean when people do wrong and God judges them and he has to he's gonna feel sorry for him sometimes and he's gonna judge them and he'll feel sorry for it look at this let's go to judges 20 to 18 I mean you get you read through the Bible and you look up for peasants I don't see how people get this definition of repentance means quit sinning but that's where they do they say repent means quit sitting well if you have to quit sending to get saved then salvation is works but we're not talking about salvation right now I'm still going to the Old Testament I'm showing you under the Old Testament what repentance was at times it meant feel sorry for something and other times it means change your mind other times it meant change direction judges to 18 and when the Lord raised them up judges then the Lord was the judge and delivered them out of the hand of the enemies their enemies all the days of the judge for it repented the Lord because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed it it repented the Lord what does that mean well it sounds like God felt sorry for them God felt sorry for Israel and how their enemies were treating them and God said you know I feel so sorry for them I'm gonna do what I can to help them that's called grace so you can't have grace with people and you should it God did now when people do wrong well they need to be disciplined for the wrong they do and God disciplined his people he told them to repent over and over and God repented over and over he felt sorry for them and he disciplined them for a time and then he said okay now that's enough he changed his mind and said okay now I'm gonna give you another chance to do right and it did right for a little while then they did wrong and so God said okay I'm gonna discipline you he felt sorry for them and sometimes he had grace on him in other times he disciplined them judged them judges 21-6 so I want you to see that the word repentance is all throughout the Old Testament but it's used in the context of both man and God God repented now what does that mean he felt sorry for his people and sometimes he changed his mind in how he was gonna deal with them sometimes he he judged them and other times he said okay that's enough now I'm gonna not judge them now I'm gonna wait to see what they do so it almost sounds like God's repentance was dependent upon whether or not the children of Israel repented you know when they felt sorry for their sinned and God said okay that's enough I'll stop discipling them when they didn't feel sorry for it then his anger was unleashed on them and he and he judged them even more judges 21-6 and the children tormented them for Benjamin their brother and said there's one tribe cut off from Israel this day also 2115 and the people repented them for Benjamin because that the Lord had made a breach in the tribe of Israel so the people repented for Benjamin what does that mean they felt sorry because the tribe of Benjamin was almost wiped out alright let's look at some more verses verse a min 15 1 I want you to see these verses in the Old Testament first Samuel 15 I said 1 verse 11 we're similar 15:11 and it repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king now verse 10 says then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel saying so this is God speaking verse 11 it repented me that I have set up Saul to be king for he has turned back from following me and did not perform my commandments and it grieves Samuel and he cried unto the Lord all night so it repented the Lord that he made Saul to be king so God felt sorry for making Saul King because Saul became such a horrible King an evil king he did evil and wicked and ungodly stuff now we're in chapter 15 let's look at verse 29 verse 21 and also the strength of Israel will not lie nor repent whose the strength of Israel it's a capital S that's Jesus Christ and also the strength of Israel will not lie nor repent for he is not a man that he should repent so here we have God the Father and he's saying I am the strength of Israel and I will not lie nor repent or change so when God says something you can bank on it that it's true God will never say something and then say I was just kidding I was just lying art or change it once it said it's going to be done so we find all throughout the Old Testament every time we're looking up repentance it seems like God is repenting just as much as the people first name in 1535 and Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death nevertheless Samian warrant for Saul and the Lord repented that he had made saw king over Israel the Lord was sorry that he made saw the king of Israel because of the horrible horrendous sin of Saul second Samuel 24 16 second Samuel 24 16 again we find repentance 2nd Samuel 24 16 that went to first and second Samuel 24 16 what does the Bible say here it says and when his angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it the Lord repented him of the evil and said to the angel that destroyed the people it is enough stay now by hand and the angel of the Lord was buy the threshing place of RO the Jebusite so the Lord repented of the evil he came and he was destroying Israel for their sin and then God said ok that's enough and that's recorded as God's saying ok that's enough I was going to destroy all but I changed my mind I'm gonna show a little bit of grace so I'm trying to show you this because in the Old Testament God is repenting and if repentance only means quit sinning then I guess God's saying he says here he repented of the evil some people that are sanctimonious and don't know God or the Bible they they say I'll see that God did evil God did evil no God doesn't do evil it's called a contrast you look at good what's the opposite of good evil all right so God was judging Israel by bringing to them judgment and it wasn't good because they had done wrong so what was it well some people would say well then it was evil but God doesn't do evil God's not a sinner so what that means is if you're a just God and you're disciplining someone who's a sinner it's not sin to discipline them that's an interesting concept let's put it this way you kill someone you go to court they judge you guilty you should go to the electric chair it's not murder when the man is put in the electric chair and killed no it's called justice but people say oh look how evil that is they killed that man no no the man killed himself if you will by his sin by him killing someone he forfeit in his own life why because I for an eye tooth for tooth that's what the Old Testament say if you take someone's life then you forfeited your own you should die according to justice and law so people look at things that are bad that happened to people and they say oh look how evil that is but what is it it's justice so God did to Israel chastisement God disciplined Israel and there were some things that fulfill them that were bad but doesn't mean God was bad God was good and he changed his mind and said okay that's enough he could have completely wiped out everyone but he had some grace we always find this thing over and over God has grace God has grace interesting now Joe 24:6 Joe 24-6 wherefore I bore myself and repent in dust and ashes here we find job repenting what did job do but he changed his mind did he change his direction or did he sit down and feel sorry for something well his entire mindset was I never did wrong I'm not a sinner and then finally at the end of the book he sits down and goes you know what I changed my mind I am a sinner I am not perfect so it could be that or it could be he felt sorry for his sin as well let's go to Jeremiah 15:16 and I'm not even going to all the verses I'm trying to go as many as I can but I want you to see in the Old Testament we have man repenting and we find God repented Jeremiah 15 6 thou has forsaken me saith the LORD that were gone back word therefore was stretch out my hand against the end destroy thee I am weary with repenting God says look I'm gonna stretch out my hand and destroy Israel because they have turned from doing wrong right to doing wrong and God says it's time for me to judge them and God says I am weary with repenting so either he's saying I'm tired of feeling sorry for them or he's saying I'm tired of judging them when they do wrong and then giving them a little bit of grace and the saying okay that's enough he says no I'm going all the way I'm gonna let them be judged completely and we see what happened the the children of Israel ended up in in Babylon I believe it was because of their sin and God led them into captivity allowed them to go into captivity but God said he was weary with repenting he was tired of it Jeremiah 18 8 if that nation against whom I have pronounced turned from their evil eye were pet of the evil that I thought to do unto them and then verse didn't if it do evil in my sight that it obey not my voice then I will repent of the good wherewith I said that would benefit them so God says I will change my mind because God set up in the Old Testament this is what I want you to get okay the Old Testament in the New Testament are different all right under the Old Testament God put the children of Israel under the law under the Old Testament law it was a covenant of works and it was dependent upon what they did what God did so if they did good then God blessed them and gave them good but if they did bad the God judged them and sent judgment and what would the judgment be well clearly if you were a Jew in the Old Testament you were part of the nation of Israel and if the nation as a whole turned from God then God would send in another nation and what would happen that other nation would take over Israel and take them into captivity that happens several times the Babylonian so also Rome came in in the time of Jesus Rome had the Land of Israel and were taken in charge of it and the Jews were I guess you could say slaves to the Romans in many ways and so God allowed those other nations to come in and what did those other nations do they did evil they rape they killed they murdered they looted they stole God allowed that to take place as his judgment on them for doing wrong so in the Old Testament there was repentance in the Old Testament repentance was was if you did good god bless you if you did bad you'd be judged but if you repented if you felt sorry for what you did and you you said no I'm going to do better then God would say okay I'll repent too instead of me judging you like I was going to then I won't judge you because you got right now all of that is Old Testament that's all Old Testament it was conditional if you will if min-joo right God will repent and change his mind about what he'd do to them if men did wrong then God would have to judge them and he did now let's go to Amos chapter 7 I'm trying to show you this is Old Testament repentance and what I want you to get a hold of is red in the Old Testament was only for Israel because that was the people that God chose to deal with God chose Moses and God gave the law and God dealt with the Jews in the Old Testament that's important because in the church age I'm going to show you how the Jews rejected their Messiah and now God's going to Gentiles and I want you to see something I'm going to explain this in a way in which I hope you'll understand Amos chapter 7 verse 3 the Lord repented for this it shall not be saith the Lord so the Lord repented for what well I don't have time to read the context but God was gonna do something then he changed his mind and said you know I feel sorry for Israel he repented he felt sorry for them and so maybe he decided I'll give them a little bit more grace in order to get right so I don't have to judge them Jonah I'm trying to show you as many Old Testament verses about repentance that I can okay now let's go to Jonah chapter 3 verse 9 and 10 kooky tail of God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not and God saw their works that they turned from their evil way and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them and he did it not isn't that amazing the people repent and then God repents that's a you know a lot of people will preach repentance and they say it's what you do it's what you do and they never mention the fact that God repented it's so amazing that in the Old Testament when man repented God repented when man repented God repented what does that mean that means God that means God was looking down from heaven and he sees evil and he says I cannot endure evil I have to judge people that do evil and when they do evil I'm gonna send my judgment on them and many times it was in plagues it was in other armies coming in and taking over it was many things that God would use to judge his people but when they repaint it when they felt sorry for their sin and said we're gonna do right from now on then God repented and said okay I won't judge you because you've gotten right and that's a wonderful thing that God allowed them a chance to get right and that's wonderful and then I thank God for that now it's going to Zechariah chapter 8 in verse 14 zechariah 8:14 for thus said the Lord of hosts as I thought to punish you when your fathers provoked me to wrath saith the Lord of hosts I repented not you see God has his limit of grace I guess you could say I guess how would you explain it God has his limit of sin that he'll put up with and when you reach that limit God will says I won't repent anymore I will put up with so much and it lets you get right and if you get right then I'll repent and say okay I won't bring down everything on you that I was gonna send it but when you reach that limit oh you better watch out then it says God said I won't repent I will destroy you so that's God's grace God's Grace's is allowing people time to repent I remember there's a verse in Revelation where it says God gave her space and time to repent of her evil and she repented not so what did God do he destroyed her so God punished their evil he did not repent and then that's what happened so the Old Testament is all about Israel repenting and how God repented and so when they repented God repented and vice-versa sometimes God felt sorry for them other times God changed his mind and said you know I was gonna destroy them off the face of the earth but then I changed my mind it says no I'm only gonna judge them this much because boy God when he gets angry I mean he could just he could just go like that and all the earth has just exploded God is a massive amazing gigantic God so he does have to hold back sometimes and he has on many occasions so when we look at repentance in the Old Testament what we find is we find God doing a lot of repenting himself God's telling man do right do right do right and when they do wrong God says get right and that's what most of the Old Testaments about all these different prophets that God sent to his people and said those saith the Lord you're doing this you're doing that you're doing this you need to get right you need to do right God says this that and the other thing and many times the people repented and when they did God said okay I'll repent I will change what I was gonna do to you I was going to judge you but I'll give you more grace that's the whole Old Testament in the nutshell man repents cotter pins man repents God repents it's all because of sin now when we get to the New Testament of the Bible all right the New Testament Matthew Mark Luke and John is in the New Testament of the Scriptures but actually Matthew Mark Luke and John are still Old Testament until Jesus dies because the New Testament doesn't actually start until the death of a testator a lot of people forget that a lot of people try to tell you oh well everything that happens in Matthew Mark Luke and John that's all for us today not no it's not no it's not there's a lot of things that takes place - Matt Matthew Mark Luke and John that are not in the epistles of Paul and are not church age doctrine Jesus said he came only to the lost sheep of the house of israel so jesus' ministry ministry was to Israel Jesus sent out his disciples and the early disciples went to who - Jews so you find in the Bible this this amazing teaching that God is dealing with the Jews throughout most of the Old Testament and when he comes he comes to the Jews it's a lot of the times that we find the word repentance in Matthew Mark Luke and John we got to remember it was still two Jews God then calls Paul and God says Paul more to the Gentiles now not only to the Gentiles Paul would go preach to the Jews as well but more to Gentiles the preaching of pomp so we become the New Testament we find out that repentance is a little bit different you see the New Testament is about grace Bible says that grace came by Jesus Christ the Old Testament was this covenant of works that if you do wrong I'll judge you if you do right I'll bless you under the age of grace nice God lets you do wrong and get away with it sometimes and God lets you do right and suffer for it sometimes grace is God not giving us what we do deserve and then giving us what we don't deserve that's grace so what is grace well grace is wonderful and under grace it's a little bit different let's look at that Matthew chapter 3 and verse 2 Matthew 3:2 it says and saying repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand this is the first time you see the word repent who is preaching it why it's John the Baptist now look at verse 8 bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance this is a Jew preaching to Jews and telling Jews repent verse 11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance but he that cometh after me is mightier than I whose shoes I am not worthy to bear he should baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire so this is John the Baptist coming to preach now who was approaching - what does he say look at verse 1 and those days Came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand for this is he that was spoken of by the Prophet SAS saying the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare you the way of the Lord make his paths straight and then look at verse 5 and went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region round about Jordan and were baptized of him in Jordan confessing their sins so this was to juice John the Baptist showed up and he said y'all need to get baptized and y'all need to repent and you all need to have the baptism of repentance and confess your sins now some people who do not rightly divide the word of truth will try to say that that's the gospel of salvation for us today you got to be baptized in water and confess your sins and you're saved by confession you're saved by baptism and you're saved by repenting and bringing forth fruits meat - repentance means that you quit sinning and you do these things and then you're saved sorry that's before the cross you're not rightly dividing the word of truth you're trying to take something that was to Jews and force it over here to us today in the in the church age in the Paul's ministry and that ain't going to work but there are a lot of people out there that don't rightly divide the word of truth so they try to take a message that was only to the Jews and try to tell us that today we have to repent and that means quit sinning and does that sound like what they're saying they're confessing their sins and they've got to bring forth fruit worth room for repentance well that almost sounds like they've got to do good works to prove that they have repented that hey they have quit sinning so that's why people will try to say repentance means quit sinning and they'll take you to Matthew and they'll tell you that that's for us today when that was way before Paul and that was way before Jesus even died on the cross so they're getting their gospel teaching not from the gospel of Paul not from the teaching of the New Testament they're going under John's ministry we're not under John's ministry we're under Paul's ministry today let's go to another place let's go to mark chapter 4 mark chapter 4 all right so John the Baptist came and John the Baptist was preaching repent well then Jesus shows up and Jesus begins to preach now who did Jesus preach if Jesus says in the book of Matthew said he came only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel his ministry Jesus ministry he says was only to Israel and look what it says mark chapter four and verse 1702 17 mark 2:17 look what it says here in mark 2:17 Jesus preaching when Jesus heard it he saith unto them they that are whole have no need of a physician but they that are sick I came not to call the righteous but sinners to what to repentance so Jesus Christ shows up and Jesus says hey I've come to call sinners to repentance remember still Jesus in his earthly ministry not new testament yet still only to Israel mark chapter 6 and verse 12 go to mark 6:12 and they went out and preached that men should repent who did well it looks here like it's talking about the early disciples the disciples of Jesus look at verse 7 he called him to them the twelve began to send them forth by two by - and gave them power over unclean spirits - commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey save a staff only no script no bread no money in their purse but she shed with sandals and not put on two coats and he sent her to them and what's our place you enter into a house there bite until you depart from it verse 11 and whosoever shall not receive you nor hear you when you depart thence shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them verily I say to you it should be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the Day of Judgment than for that City and they went out and preached that men should repent now what were they preaching men should feel sorry or men should change their direction or change their mind well what was being preached at that time at that time what was being preached was the gospel of the kingdom so what was taking place is these guys were going out only to Jews which by the way is only for Israel is that the coming kingdom is coming and that Kingdom is for the Jews when Jesus rules is the king of the Jews for a thousand years so these early Jews were going out with the gospel of the kingdom and part of the gospel of the kingdom was hey repent what did it mean to repent Ament change your mind and realize that the Messiah is coming and he's here change your direction quit living in sin and get ready to be clean for the king and feel sorry for something what do they feel sorry for well they were in apostasy at that time they ought to felt bad that they had a pasta size and had turned from God you see the judgment of God was on them because the nation of Israel was under the control of the Romans so what I see is this preaching is hey repent means hey turn to the Messiah that's what this means to change direction means to turn so what were they preaching the kingdom is near turn to the Messiah basically that was the message that they were giving they weren't telling people if you'll quit sending now you'll get saved sure they preached against sin but what are they mostly what they did is they went in they healed sick people put their hands on them and said hey the Messiah's here so the message was all about the Messiah now let's go to Luke chapter 13 here's Jesus Christ preaching again Jesus preaching to Luke chapter 13 verse 3 and 5 Luke 13:3 I tell you nay but except you repent you shall all likewise perish verse 5 I tell you nay even except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish verse 6 the parable of the fig tree this is all about Israel so this preaching of Jesus in the early apostles was all about Israel and so it was preaching to Israel repent because the kingdom is closed alright now let's go to Acts chapter two after Jesus Christ dies in this bury and raises again he appears unto his disciples and he tells them to go out and preach to Israel and what does he preach Acts chapter 2 and verse 38 we see Peter raising up and Peter is one of the big ones the big names in the early book of Acts and Peter is going out and telling people acts 2:38 what is acts 2:38 repent and be what baptized all right is being baptized in water I wrote it as an English way with an ass I'm put back in the American Way with the Z is being baptized in water salvation for us today acts 2:38 says then Peter said to them repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift the Holy Ghost who is he preaching to Jews verse 36 let all the house of Israel why were they baptizing you ever do you ever think what baptism is for sea baptism was to clean the flesh why would you want your flesh clean because the king had come and you don't go before a king dirty you get cleaned and so you take and you get a bath before you appear before the king so they're going out there John the Baptist Jesus was with his disciples and told his disciples to baptize people but Jesus never baptized anyone and then the early disciples went out baptizing who who did they baptize only Israel only Jews because there was still the possibility that this kingdom could come if Israel accepted their Messiah but they had to repent what does that mean that means they had to feel sorry for killing their Messiah and that's what chapter two is all about Peter is preaching he's saying that man Jesus who died who was Rosen again you killed him and you look at verse 37 it says now when they heard this they were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and the rest of the Apostles men and brethren what shall we do they were hurting they were pricked in their heart they were petted they felt sorry for something what did they feel sorry for killing the Messiah and so he was out there preaching the murder indictment of hate Jews you need to repent you need to feel sorry for killing the Messiah and you need to have a change of mind and realize hey before we were in unbelief thinking that that was the Messiah that wasn't the Messiah now we believe that it is the Messiah and so they had to be baptized in water now thankfully we have the book of Acts and the book of Acts is a transitional book and the book of Acts starts with Israel and ends up with the Gentiles starts with Peter and goes to Paul starts with Israel and ends up with the church and acts 2:38 might have been what was preached in the early book of Acts but that is not the gospel for today as you read the book of Acts you clearly see that people are no longer saved by water baptism rather they're saved by faith but you also see in the early book of Acts the early apostles are out there preaching repent acts 3:19 repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing will come from the presence of the Lord Acts 531 what does he say here hanged him had him have God exalted with his right hand to be prince and a saviour for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins now go all the way back out to acts 8:22 repent for therefore of this thy wickedness and pray God if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven me so here is a man that needed to repent of what he did all this took place when it was still going to the Jews chapter nine of the book of Acts is a big deal because that's when Paul gets saved who God was later gonna be make the Jinta of the apostle to the Gentiles Acts chapter 10 in Acts chapter 11 guess who gets saved Gentiles and from there on we start to see a different message we no longer see repent and be baptized to be saved we see we're saved when we believe we're saved by faith or say by trusting and they got baptized in the water after they were saved not to get saved and even then you go over that first corinthians paul says i baptized none of you I think God I didn't come to baptize but to preach the gospel so the emphasis changes from hey Jews repent and be baptized and get clean because the kingdom is coming because it was all about the King about the gospel the message changes entirely and the message becomes believe have faith trust and be saved and we're saved by believing today not by whether or not we repented now people say yeah but Paul preached for penance yes he did let's look at that and let's see what it was that Paul was saying that we need to repent from because when Paul is preaching he's not preaching repent that you killed the Messiah like old Peter did he's saying hey here's something else that I need you to realize look at it's Acts chapter 11 verse 18 that's 11:18 says when they had heard these things they held their peace and glorified God saying that then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life repentance unto life is that mean feel sorry for life no no to a to the life no repentance unto life means a change of direction attorney into them being able to have eternal life so what he's saying is hey check it out before under the law of Moses Gentile were stinking swine you could have nothing to do with the Gentiles there were pagans they were wicked they were filthy they were reprobate they're evil all Jews had to stay away from the horrible pagan Gentiles they couldn't come to God unless they became a convert to Judaism and to the law but now in Chapter 11 of the book of Acts we find out hey guess what God granted to the Gentiles repentance repentance to what to life and I believe what he's saying there is to eternal life I believe the context is very clear so I'll put life eternal and what he's saying is now God has made it to where there's a way for the Gentiles to be saved notice what that's context is so repentance unto life so now the Gentiles get saved by faith and when they believe then they've repented they've turned from being lost to being saved it doesn't mean quit sinning Gentile and when you quit sin that's when you get saved no no it's when you believe that's when you are safe and that's when you have repented because now you've changed now God has given you a way to be saved let's go to another verse Acts chapter 17 and verse 30 acts 17:30 here Paul is preaching in Athens the center of the pagan Gentiles the center of the false pagan idol worship religion in acts 13 of 1730 Paul stands up and he says in the times of this ignorance God winked at but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent now what does it mean to repent under Paul's preaching well it doesn't mean now you quit sinning you get to heaven no Paul is preaching to the pagans right there the Gentiles are pagans and he's and he's sitting there talking about all their false gods in context they tells them repent what does that mean change direction from worshipping pagan false gods to coming to the true God Jesus Christ he commandeth all men everywhere that they should repent what was Paul saying when he said repent acts 1519 acts 15 19 wherefore my sentence is that we trouble not them which from the among the Gentiles are turned to God but then we write unto them that they've should stain from pollutions of idols and fornication of things strangled and from blood so what does he say the Gentiles are turned to God repentance is a turn change the direction so when Paul is preaching God commands all men everywhere to repent and we know Paul is more of a Gentile though the the possibility entails what is Paul saying he say turn from false gods to the true God and that's the problem the pagans had false gods so the message of repentance in the time of Paul was to turn from your false gods your idols to the true God for salvation notice that it's not you quit sinning you get saved no it's turn to God repent go to God for salvation quit going to the false gods for salvation 19 for action chapter 19 verse 4 all of a sudden Paul comes upon a bunch of Jews and look what he says then said Paul John barely baptized with the baptism of repentance saying unto the people that they should believe on him that which has come after him that is on christ jesus paul even explains it all john was baptizing with this repentance but when he was doing was something that was before now they should believe on him to be saved believe so it's not the repentance and the water baptism that saves it's the faith it's the believing that saves okay let's get to you acts 20:21 I'm going to show you Paul and how Paul preached repentance acts 20:21 testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ alright repentance toward God what does it mean repentance toward God turning to God so you're turning away from the false gods and the false idols to the true God he wasn't saying now if you'll quit singing then you'll be saved by the fact that you quit sinning no he says repent turn from trusting and false gods turn to the true God for salvation and then by faith you're saved so it's not quit sinning to get saved it's turning to God and getting salvation through God instead of through what you do I don't see how people can't see that but it's so clear that the message of repent in the Old Testament and the message of repent under John and Jesus and the early disciples was hey you come to God you quit doing what you're doing you feel bad for what you've done and now you get baptized in water and so all the emphasis is what you do you repent and you get baptized but that's not the message of salvation today under the preaching of Palm we aren't saved by when we repent by what we do and we're not saved by our water baptism we're saved when we come to God alone for salvation and we're saved by faith it's a different thing it's a different teaching Acts twenty six twenty what people say they say yeah but you have to quit sitting to get saved okay let's look acts 26 22 King Agrippa acts 26 twenty but showed first unto them of Damascus and at Jerusalem throughout all the coasts of Judea and then to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God and do works meet for repentance all right they say repentance means you do good works and so you're saved by your good works no no that's not what he's saying at all Ephesians 2:8 9 says for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast salvation today is by faith but verse 10 says we are created into his workmanship unto good works after we're saved we should do good works so the good works come after we're saved after we're saying we should do good works sure but we're not saved by those works back here you had to do good works and you had to do the work of be baptized and so it was it was all focused on what you do but over here it's focused on believing trust by faith and what Jesus did and the works from after but the works aren't for salvation or to stay saved you're safe by faith look at this here in verse 17 Acts 2617 delivering me from the people and from the Gentiles into whom now I send thee to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to life she repentance is attorney when you believe the gospel you have repented because you've changed direction from darkness to life it says from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me so the gospel message of salvation today is that we're saved by faith not by works go to 1st Thessalonians 1:9 I forgot to mention this first 1st Thessalonians 1:9 when Paul preached repentance to the Gentiles what was he talking about what is we telling them to repent from our repent to see what means changing turning changing your mind changing direction what was Paul telling these Gentiles that they needed to turn from - to be saved was he telling them if you'll quit sitting you get saved no no that's not what he was saying a lot of people say no that's what it is if you quit sitting you'll get say you'll never quit sinning after you get sick you should hate sin you shouldn't want to sing you should feel sorry for your sin sure but the fact that you quit sinning doesn't mean you were saved you're saved not when you've sinned or don't sin you're saved when you believe it's summation of my faith not just from the head you've got to trust from the heart and I don't have time to get into that I put out many videos about how you're saved by faith from the heart it's not just believing in your head it's believing from the heart in something so you go here - oh I have it written down here first Thessalonians 1:9 and first Thessalonians chapter 1 and verse 9 look what it says here for they themselves show of us what manner of entering we happen to you and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God that's one of the best definitions of repentance for us today of any verse in the Bible I think what repentance is it's you turn from false gods to the true God and you believe you trust in him as your Savior by trusting his blood atonement and then you do good works but you do good works after you're saved you don't do them to get saved you don't say well I quit sinning and that means that I've saved now it doesn't work that way you don't say well I quit sitting and I believe in Jesus so now I'm saved by faith and my works know you're saved by faith alone in what Jesus did for you now after I'm saved I want to serve Him so that's what I do I do the best I can to live a holy life for God and I serve Him who saved me but a lot of people what they don't understand is the salvation is not of works and so what they want to do is they want to take all of the Bible and mix it together and make you think that hey if you do the work so you repent and by that they mean you quit sinning they say if you quit sinning and see how they mix it and if you have faith then you're saved and that is a faith plus works gospel and that is not salvation other people still want to be under this and so they say you're saved by your works and so they have a a gospel of works they have a works gospel salvation is not by our works that's not how we're saved and salvation is not faith and works salvation is you're saved by faith and now that you're saved then you live for Jesus you don't before you get saved say well as soon as I clean my life up then I plan on trusting in Jesus and getting saved it's not that's not how it works you get saved when you hear the gospel understand and believe the gospel then you're safe then the Holy Spirit inside of you is what helps you to live and serve Him but if you're still in the mindset of well my repentance is part of my salvation so I don't repent it so it's all me it's all what I did then you don't have the Holy Spirit and you're trying to serve God in the flesh and you're doing a horrible job of it because you're still not safe because you're not trusting in what Jesus did you're holding on to your own little element of works thinking I've got to be saved because I repented it's what I did well I Got News for you if you got saved you have repented if you're saved you have changed from Hell to heaven you have changed your mind from unbelief to belief so you're saved you see the only thing that saves you is whether or not you've believed now there are people out there that will hi oh boy will they lie to you and they'll tell you that's the dumbest thing that's not what the Bible teaches does that the other thing and they tell you no that's really rude and they tell you that you have to repent first well I got a question for you what do they mean by repent ask them that ask them when they say you have to repent say how do you define repent because everyone I've ever talked to that has the false gospel will tell you repent means quits in it all right if you have to quit sinning in order to get saved then you have added works to the gospel and you have damned a soul to hell into thinking that it's got to be what they do to help god save them it's not whether you quit sinning or not that saves you or to get saves a better way to put it it's whether or not you've trusted and when you trust you have repented because when you believe that's when you've changed your direction that's what God changed it basically before you were going to hell now you're going to have it you've turned from your righteousness to trust in Christ righteousness you've turned from the false God to the true God a change has taken place when you believe the gospel but that can't happen until there's a change of mind and what that means is you have to understand you have to realize that you can't save yourself so what that means is you have to hear the gospel and this is what it comes down to let's go to the gospel the gospel is 1st Corinthians 15 one through four Apostle Paul preaches the gospel and in 1st Corinthians 15 one through four Paul tells us how we're safe notice 1st Corinthians 15 1 through 4 moreover brother and I declare it's you the gospel which I preached the new what you also receive and where do you stand but which also you are saved all right how are we saved Paul well repent and be baptized now he didn't say that that's what Peter said early he says well quit sinning and once you reach to the state of quit sinning then you've been you might be able to believe and be saved but you still have to quit sit nothing to do with what you do it's all to do with what Jesus did for you what does he say he says but which I'll see you or save you keep him everyone I preached unto you unless you believed in vain probably limited you first of all that that which I also received how that Christ died for our sins according to scriptures that he was buried that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures there's five points of the gospel Christ died one number two for our sins number three according to the scriptures number four it was buried and then number five he rose again the third day five points to the gospel and they're all right there and it's all what Jesus did for us and it's all about whether or not we believe in that what he did the problem is many people want to go here's what they do they go to an extreme okay here's the extreme on this side salvation is by faith by believing that's what the Bible teaches were saved by faith on the other side they say no it's by your repentance and so they say you have to repent in order to get saved so they say it's the repentance that saves you and so what is that that's what you do and so they try to say you're saved by what you do they go to an extreme then there's people say it's all by faith alone if you'll just believe with the mind then you're safe well that's an opposite extreme I don't want to be an extremist I always want to take the right to position the Bible crew position so I look at what the Bible says about repentance and I look at the New Testament repentance I said oh well the Bible says you're saved by faith so when you're saved by faith from the heart that is that believeth with all my heart thou mayest acts 8:37 salvation is by believing from the heart that's when you're saved it's not enough to just believe it in the mind it's when you trust from the heart it's not what you do and that's the middle position I take the position that the Bible takes you're saved by faith from the heart if all you believe is in the gospel with your mind you're still lost if you're thinking it's by your repentance and that you have to do it then you're still lost but if you understand the gospel then you realize it's not what I do I trust in what Jesus did I trust Jesus is atonement for me his shed blood I trust solely in what Jesus did you know what that means what I've trusted that from the heart repentance is taking place McClellan's took place when I got safe when I believed because that's when I understood my mind was changed and I realized it's not what I do it's what Jesus did that's when my Direction changed from going to hell to go into heaven that's when I understood well it's all what Jesus did for me not what I do that's when I got saved we live in a day and age of people that are extremists they want to go to an extreme I've had people accuse Robert breaker of being on this end saying Robert breaker just thinks if you just believe from the mind you're safe I have never taught that I've never said that salvation is what you believe in your head I've always taught what the Bible says if thou believest with all thine heart thou mayest you know what does the Bible say about believing from the heart Romans chapter 10 so it's from the heart that you believe and when by faith from the heart you're trusting in Christ finish work on Calvary by faith believing what he's done from you for you for you that's when you're saved it's not the fact that you repented these people that preached you repent you they want to hold on to what they do and they're self-righteous Pharisees that go around saying look at me I am saved because I did something that's a lost me anyone that will brag to you about who they are and what they do is someone that's trusting in what they do and they haven't trusted from the heart completely and totally in what Jesus did because when you believe by faith in the heart then you've repented you don't have to brag on your repentance I'm not saved you know what that means that means repentance took place because when I got saved there was change what was the change I understood the gospel when I understood it in my mind I believe it in the heart and that's when I got saved a lot of people understand in the mind but they don't believe in the heart but I do I understand that salvation is a heart belief and that belief took place by an understanding now I don't even have time to go to any other verses I've already gone a little bit long but the Bible tells us that salvation is by faith from the heart there's a lot of people out there that are lost because they're trusting in their repentance rather than trusting in Christ the propitiation the propitiation the blood atonement for our sins so I want to close with this what are you trusting in to get you to heaven are you trusting in what you did are you saying the fact that I don't sit anymore that's what I'm trusting in to prove that I'm saying if so you're lost are you trusting in what Jesus did if you are then you're saved see a lot of people say well I don't know if I've repented or not so I don't know if I'm saying if you believed in the blood of Christ the gospel from the heart then you've repented you don't even have to worry about it you know the old preacher like I said earlier he said my very repentance need to be repenting something repetitive because I'm such a sinner we're all sinners but they're safe sinners and there's loss sinners if you are not trusting from the heart and what Jesus did then you are a lost sinner still even worse you're self-righteous pharisee who's bragging on what you do rather than what Jesus did that's a lost person but if you're saved you don't brag about yourself and what you do and don't do you just love Jesus and you serve Him because you're saved I love my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ I trusted in him as my savior on July 29th 1992 when for the first time in my life my father sent me down and explained to me the gospel first time I heard the gospel showed me Romans 3:25 through faith in his blood and I realized it's the blood of Christ that saves me I had a change of mind I realized it's not what I do because all that time before I was trusted on what I did I realized it's what Jesus did for me and from the heart trusted in what Jesus did for me and I'm saved and I know it I'm on my way to heaven and you'll never hear Robert brake you're bragging on look how great a person I am because I don't do this sin and I don't do that sin and I don't do this I do my best to stay away from sin but my salvation doesn't depend on what I do or don't do depends on what you've trusted in I hate sin I stay away from sin I preach against sin I don't want sin but I also don't want to deceive people into thinking that if they'll quit city they get to heaven now after you're saved do everything you can to quit sinning but quit sinning isn't what saves you or keeps you saved that's the message I hope this helps a lot of folks have been telling me you know brother breaker every time you preach and other messages helps me it helps me to to win somebody to the Lord and or no or sister or brother they they have that problem they think repent means quit sinning so they're holding on to their own righteousness and thinking well the fact that I'm not sinning God will accept me and said they said brother breaker keep it up because we send these videos along and we've seen brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers and aunts and uncles and coworkers and friends get saved so keep preaching the gospel keep preaching what Jesus did and salvation by faith in what he did and keep telling the truth so that's what I'll do thank you for watching we'll see you next week

Channel: Robert Breaker

Views: 40,643

Keywords: Repentance in the Bible, Repentance, Repent

Id: DZ_qZ2kWg7o

Length: 71min 28sec (4288 seconds)

Published: Fri May 25 2018